Assemble
by cowboysrappin
Summary: Book I of the Heroes Series When Hydra becomes a new threat, Atom, Black Canary, Spartan, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America must team up and stop them. Arrowverse and Marvel Cinematic Universe Crossover
1. I

"Amanda, we need to start the Avengers Initiative," Nick Fury said.

"Agreed, Nick," said Amanda Waller. "Hydra is out there, even if we don't know where. The rest of SHIELD doesn't want to do anything yet, but it'll be too late when they decide it's time to fight them."

"Who have you chosen?" Nick asked.

Amanda pulled up the videos she had on her recruit ideas. On the TV, an African American in U.S. Army attire was fighting in Afghanistan. Eventually the videos all became pictures of the same man in body armor and a grey helmet beating up and shooting people in the dark. "John Diggle. Served three tours in Afghanistan, came back to Starling City to be the vigilante Spartan. Skilled with a gun or in hand to hand combat."

The videos switched to show a tall man in a suit at Palmer Tech. It transitioned into a man in a suit, shrinking in size. "Ray Palmer. CEO of Palmer Tech. He created a suit that allows him to shrink. He calls himself the Atom."

The videos switched to a blonde woman in court rooms, transitioning to show a screaming woman in black, holding two batons. "Laurel Lance, assistant DA at Starling City. She has the superpower of screaming high pitches loudly. Calls herself the Black Canary. Who do you have?"

Nick turned on his own videos. First there was a man fighting in World War II. "Steve Rogers, the famous Captain America. 'Nuff said."

The video switched to a man with long blonde hair walking around in a cape and throwing a hammer. "Thor, an Asgardian, Prince of Asgard, god of thunder."

The video switched to a cocky man in a suit semi-similar to Palmer's. "Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist. Built a weaponized suit and calls himself Iron Man."

"Spartan, Atom, Black Canary, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. We can work with this," Amanda said.

"We just have to assemble them," Nick added.

"Without the rest of SHIELD knowing." Amanda bit her lip. "My most trusted agent, Lyla Michaels, has...connections with John Diggle. Agent Michaels can recruit him. I shouldn't have to hard of a time with Ray Palmer and Laurel Lance."

"Yes, Phil Coulson and Maria Hill can also be trusted with this. Agent Coulson has Thor's trust. Agent Hill can quite easily recruit Tony Stark. And I think Steve Rogers will be the easiest," Nick added.

"Very well, Nick. We need to do this fast. Who knows what Hydra is planning right now?"

Nick looked at his watch for the date. "It's May 20th today...let's have a deadline at...June 5th."

"Sounds fair." Amanda used her watch to contact Agent Lyla Michaels. "Contact Agents Hill and Coulson, and we'll brief them in twenty minutes."

Nick and Amanda sat down as they waited for their confidants to enter the room. When the three of them came, they stood up. "Lock the door, Phil." Phil did as he was told and locked the door behind him.

"As you know, Nick and I have been trying to get SHIELD to investigate Hydra. SHIELD has let Hydra be since the end of World War II, and who knows what they're capable of now?" Amanda started.

"But SHIELD isn't willing to do this. So, we're gonna have to take matters in our own hands," Nick said.

"Just the five of us? I don't think five people can take down all of Hydra," Lyla said.

"Yes, we may be some of the best, but we're not enough," Maria agreed.

"Which is why we're gonna need the Avengers Initiative," Amanda said.

"John Diggle, Ray Palmer, Laurel Lance, Steve Rogers, Thor, and Tony Stark. Spartan, Atom, Black Canary, Captain America, God of Thunder, and Iron Man. They'll be the Avengers once we assemble them," Nick said.

"Lyla, you have connections with Diggle?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Recruit him. I'll get Palmer and Lance," Amanda said.

"Phil, you get Thor. Maria, you get Stark. I'll get Rogers," Nick said.

"We need the Avengers team together by June 5th," Amanda added. "Don't tell anyone else about this. Can you handle this?"

"Yes, Amanda, we got this," Phil said.

"Then be on your way," Nick ended.

Lyla and Amanda had gotten off the quinjet an hour ago at Starling City. They had gone their separate ways, and Lyla was going down a familiar lane to find John Diggle.

Before Lyla joined SHIELD, she was a soldier in the U.S. Army and had served two tours in Afghanistan. They had met them and became good friends. Some would say they were more than friends. But Lyla joined SHIELD and Johnny stayed in the Army. Since then they haven't talked much, especially since Johnny became the vigilante Spartan. Not that Lyla was against vigilantes, just that she knew he wouldn't have much time on his hands, not when Starling City was full of crime.

Lyla saw his house in the shadows. Below it she knew was Johnny's base of operations. She sighed. "Time to pay an old friend a visit."

Amanda watched from her car as Laurel Lance left the Starling City Police Department station quickly. Lance was in a rush. Amanda turned on her radio to listen to police dispatch. An armed robbery with military weapons was happening a few blocks away. Lance went to a car. Inside the car was Tommy Merlyn. Lance went into the back while Merlyn drove toward the scene of the crime.

Amanda decided to follow. It was easy to find Palmer. He was always at the top floor of Palmer Tech, working on whatever piece of technology the company was going to release. Lance, on the other hand, was a little harder. There probably wouldn't be another opportunity like this.

Phil was in Iceland, ready to find Thor. A couple years ago, Thor had shown up at Phil's mission in Sweden. Now whenever Phil was in Scandinavia, Thor would show up to help.

Thor had mentioned his best friend was Heimdall, and he could see everyone in the Nine Realms and open the bifrost. Thor had once told Phil that if he needed him, to "go to the homeland and call on Heimdall." So that's what Phil intended to do.

Phil didn't really know how to get Heimdall's attention, but he was in the middle of nowhere in Iceland. Hopefully Thor would come.

Maria drove down the busy roads of New York City. Stark Tower was easily visible. Sure, Stark is cocky and arrogant, but he'd go to help Nick. All he wanted was world peace.

Maria parked the car and walked into Stark Tower, and entered the elevator to the top, where Stark probably was.

Nick knew that finding Rogers would be easy. Rogers still hadn't gone back into the world after he woke up from the coma. But he knew that he'd only listen to Nick. And Nick knew that the Avengers needed a leader.

Sure, Amanda and himself were going to guide them and be their superiors. But within the team itself there needed to be a leader. Diggle and Lance worked alone, so they haven't gained leadership skills. No one could take Palmer seriously. Stark was too arrogant and cocky to be a good leader. And Thor didn't understand enough about human nature to lead a team of humans well. But Rogers, he was practically born a hero! He'd lead the Avengers into glory and defeat Hydra.

Convincing him to join would probably be easy. When he fought in the War, he was fighting Hydra. Hydra had killed his best friend, Sergeant Barnes, and almost destroyed huge cities like DC and London. He'd be more than happy to finally stop Hydra.

The question was, would the others be as enthusiastic as Rogers? And could they get along?


	2. II

Flashbacks in /\\\\.

"Take some rest, John, you've done a lot this week," Carly Diggle said into the phone.

"Heck yeah, I have," John Diggle responded. "I've been running off of maybe an hour of sleep per day for the past week."

"Yeah, Vertigo has been nasty," Carly said. "I better get Andy to bed. You better get some rest right now, John!"

"I will, Carly. G'night," John said. He set his phone down on the counter and threw a hot pocket in the microwave. The doorbell rang and John walked cautiously to the door, drawing his pistol. He had lost track of the number of people who tried to kill him at his doorstep long ago, and drew his gun out of habit. He cocked the gun and slowly opened the door. He was not expecting to see her. His ex. They met in Afghanistan, and she joined the FBI afterwards.

"Johnny, it's been awhile," said Lyla Michaels.

"Lyla, hey, hi, come in," John said in shock. He opened the door wider and let Lyla in. "Sorry, it's kinda a mess," he said, gesturing to his apartment.

"No, it's fine, you've been busy lately with all the Vertigo around Starling City," Lyla said as she sat down on the couch. "How's Carly?"

"Carly's good. And how has Vertigo made me busy lately?" John had not told Lyla about his nighttime escapades as Spartan. "I mean, it's been terrible driving, and I've started carrying another magazine with me-"

"Johnny, I know what you do for this city," Lyla interrupted.

"How? How long has the FBI known?"

"Johnny, I'm not with the FBI, I just told you that because I had to."

"Then how do you know?"

Lyla sat up straight. "I work with a secret government agency called SHIELD. We keep tabs on people like you there."

"Something tells me that you aren't here just to reconnect with your ex-husband," John said suspiciously. "What do you mean, SHIELD keeps tabs on people like us?"

"We just like to know what vigilantes and metahumans are out there," Lyla explained. "We don't want to lock you up, Johnny. You've done this city a lot of good, and it needs more good than ever."

"Which is saying a lot," John grumbled. "Me, Black Canary, the new one, Atom. And Starling City still has ridiculous levels of crime."

"And SHIELD usually has an agent here to stop villains as well," Lyla added.

John sighed. "Why are you telling me about SHIELD? We haven't seen each other in years, Lyla. I know you want something."

Lyla pulled a manilla envelope out of her bag. "Everything you need to know is in here, Johnny. We need your help." Lyla looked at her watch. "I'll give you until Saturday at noon. Meet me at the nearest Big Belly Burger." Lyla stood up and walked to the door. "I'll see you then, Johnny." She silently closed the door.

John picked up the manilla envelope Lyla left him. He walked to the bookcase and revealed the hidden stairs. He walked down to the hidden base under his house, skipping the last two steps. He sat down on a chair by a computer and opened the manilla folder. Inside was some files. There was a file for himself labelled Spartan/John Diggle. The others were titled Black Canary/Dinah Lance, Raymond Palmer/Atom, Anthony Stark/Iron Man, Steven Rogers/Captain America, Thor/God of Thunder, Avengers Initiative, Hydra, and SHIELD. John skimmed through the files. What do they want? he asked himself multiple times.

When he got to the file on the Avengers Initiative it all clicked. Why Lyla had come, why he had all these files on other heroes, why Lyla wanted to meet with him. SHIELD wanted to build an elite team called the Avengers. And they wanted Black Canary, Atom, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and himself to be the team.

This is ridiculous," John thought. Lyla comes back just to ask me to join some secret government elite team. Hey, it's been years since I've worked in a team with anyone other than Carly! Sure, I did one thing with Black Canary, but we both hated it and agreed to only do it again if the Nazis came back for Round Two.

There was a reason John didn't do well in teams. Even working with Carly put him through a lot of heartache.

/"How's your first day in Afghanistan?" John asked his younger brother, Andy.

"Better than I expected, I guess," Andy answered. "Do you ever get used to sleeping here?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to sleeping on a normal bed once I'm done with the Army," John replied jokingly. "They feel like marshmallows, it's like I'm gonna sink to the ground."

Andy laughed. "I guess I'll figure that out when I'm done here." He stared off into the distance, looking at the rest of the US Army camp. "Who knows? Maybe I'll be back here soon enough."

John smiled. "Y'know, when I first joined, I thought it would be a one time thing, and I'd be back home to work on that engineering degree I was considering. But on my first tour I did more than fight a war. I discovered myself. I'm a soldier, a fighter. And I'm willing to make sacrifices to protect out country and the innocent."

Andy lightly punched John's shoulder. "You saying I'm gonna be telling someone that in a few years?"

John smiled and shrugged. "Who knows? But I'd be proud of you, Andy. I'm proud of you on your first day. I was proud of you when you signed up. I was proud of you when you married Carly. I was proud of you when you got your diploma. Heck, I was proud of you when you got an F on your physics project from high school! No matter what, Andy, I'll always be proud of you."\\\

She should be here by now? John thought. He was sitting at a table at Big Belly Burger. He checked his watch. 12:08. What's going on? Lyla is never late!

Just then, Lyla walked through the door. She was in skinny jeans, a white tank top, an unbuttoned pink and green plaid shirt, hiking boots, and shades. When she saw John, she smiled and walked to the table and took a seat.

"Hey, Johnny," she said.

"Hey, Lyla. So, with this, I have several concerns," John said as he threw the manilla envelope on the table. "Why does SHIELD want me for the Avengers? In case you didn't know, I'm not good at playing well with others. I tried teaming up with Black Canary last year to deal with Clock King. Did not work at all. We both agreed to not work together unless it was bad enough. If Nazis attack, I'll happily help you out, but until then, it's a-"

"You'll help if Nazis are involved? Good, because they are," Lyla said.

"Wait, what?" John scrunched up his face and eyebrows in confusion.

"Well, they technically aren't Nazis, and they have a lot of Soviet influence." Lyla sighed. "I'm assuming you know about Hydra."

"Of course, Captain America stopped Hydra during World War II. So?"

"Yes, Captain Rogers defeated the creator, Johann Schmidt or the Red Skull, but Hydra grew in secret." Lyla sighed. "Peggy Carter and Howard Stark founded SHIELD after the War, and they would've saved us a lot of trouble if they had known about this and stopped it before it became a threat. SHIELD has known about Hydra for two years. But they've done nothing. Me and a few others know that we need to stop them now. They could do anything. If we let them stay, I wouldn't be surprised if a nuclear war started in the next three years."

This took a moment for John to process. Luckily, Carly, the waitress, had just brought them their burgers, giving John time to think. "Thanks Carly," he added.

"It's nothin,' John," Carly said. "Hey, Lyla, nice to see you. How's the FBI?"

"Little stressed right now. Some big stuff happening behind the scenes right now," Lyla answered.

"Well, I hope it gets better. Have a nice lunch, you too!" The entire time, Carly had been asking John if this was supposed to be a date, if John and Lyla were getting back together. John answered with the imperceptible shaking of his head. With an answer, Carly went back to her job.

"Has Carly been okay since-"

"Please don't continue that sentence, Lyla. She, she's been doing well," John interrupted. "So, lemme get this straight. Hydra is still out there. SHIELD isn't gonna do anything about it, so you wanna start the Avengers Initiative so we can stop Hydra?"

"Basically, yes."

"Why me? There's a truck load of other people out there."

"I don't know exactly why Amanda—she's my superior—chose you. Whatever it is, it's something the team needs. I know for a fact you have the skills required. You're better than a lot of SHIELD. The only reason SHIELD didn't recruit you after Afghanistan is because you made it clear that you wanted no part of the Army or anything related to the government. You have skills that none of the other candidates have, Johnny." Lyla took a deep breath. "Please, Johnny. The world needs your help."

John sighed. "Fine. We stop Hydra and I'm out."

Lyla sighed. "We'll negotiate that later."


	3. III

Laurel bent down in the backseat of the car, throwing clothes off and throwing her suit on. Tommy was at the wheel, effortlessly driving to the scene of crime. He took all the shortcuts in the city; he'd been at this long enough that he knew how to get around.

"They've got M-16s, Laurel. You've got a very important assignment tonight, ya sure you can handle this? I'm sure that Spartan or what's his name, Atom, can deal with it," Tommy said.

"And leave it to a brawl with Spartan or advanced technology being thrown 'round the city?" Laurel asked as she put the Black Canary mask on.

"You've gotta tell me how you became this."

Laurel smirked, remembering how it all went down. "Maybe someday, Tommy. Maybe."

/Laurel cried as she ate ice cream and watched the TV. The news was always depressing, but this time it took it up a few notches. This was the story of the crash of the Queen's Gambit. Oliver Queen, the billionaire she dated, had been on the Gambit when it went down. Search and rescue had been there, but nothing was found.

"Here you go, honey," Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, said as he handed her some more ice cream. He had never liked Oliver. He had actually hated him. But he loved his daughters, Laurel and Sara, and you can bet he would be there to comfort Laurel when her love died.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Quentin answered and his face fell. "Mrs Queen, I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm the one that should be apologizing. Can I come in?" Moira Queen, Oliver's mother, said.

"Of course," Quentin said as he lead Moira in. Quentin actually hated the entire Queen family, consisting of Robert, the father, who had also died on the Gambit, Moira, Robert's supportive wife, Oliver, the delinquent that dare date Laurel, and Thea, young and naive, looking to Oliver as an example. But they had lost half of the family; Quentin ought to be respectful.

"Mrs Queen, I'm so-"

"No, Laurel, I need to apologise to the Lance family."

"For what?" Laurel asked.

"The dock master, he noted a stowaway had gone on the Gambit." Moira tried and failed to regain control on her emotions. "The stowaway was Sara!" Moira stifled a sob. "I'm so sorry! I never thought Oliver would invite someone then. Don't even bother to sue me, I'll give you anything! I can't bring Sara back, but if there's anything I can do-"

Laurel was shocked. Not only had Oliver died, her little sister, Sara, had! And if Oliver had brought her on the boat... They had died screwing each other.

"Mrs Queen!" Quentin said sharply, him too trying to regain control of his emotions. "You, you can't control Oliver. He, he is, was, an adult. And so was Sara. They made a choice. You don't have any of the blame. He does."\\\

Laurel shook herself out of her thoughts. "Pull into that alleyway. I'll be able to get to them easily enough."

"'Kay, babe. Stay safe!" Tommy said supportively as Laurel opened the door and ran outside, scaling the wall of the nearest building.

Laurel made it to the rooftop easily and ran across the roof, deftly jumping to the next building. Rolling onto her side, she peered over the edge of the building and saw the terrorists. Skillfully, she made her way to the ground in a fashion that would've made her old friend and trainer proud. No one had seen her yet. Her suit was all black and it was late at night. But they'd see her soon enough.

Laurel jumped onto the top of the van the terrorists had and screamed. Her pitch was unbearably high, the volume was louder than any human ear could handle. Around her, terrorists dropped their weapons and covered their ears.

That's all she needed from her superpowers that day. She had a cold, and her throat hurt like Hades. Yes, she could easily defeat the terrorists without her powers, but that didn't instill fear in criminals and much as her screams did.

Laurel jumped from the van, batons in hand. She plowed through terrorists, taking them down with her legs and batons. It's interesting, really. A terrorist could hold his own if a gun was within reach. But take away the gun, and they crumbled like a house of cards. Though, Laurel had to give her scream some benefit. They still hadn't recovered from it, as evident by the number of bloody ears.

Honestly, the terrorists didn't stand much of a chance. They're just terrorists after all. If she was fighting US Marines or metahumans, that'd be different.

In no time, the terrorists were all unconscious. Laurel took a second to catch her breath, and as she was about to leave she heard applause. Not the applause of a crowd of civilians, glad that there were ten less terrorists in Starling City. No, Laurel was alone with one other person. Laurel turned to face the mystery person.

The person applauding was a middle aged woman in a tight skirt and jacket, walking confidently in black heels—based off of her speed, she was quite capable of doing many things in heels, but what were those many things? The woman had dark skin, hair, and eyes. "I'm impressed," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Laurel said, using a voice scrambler.

"Amanda Waller, Miss Lance. I'm gonna need you to come with me."

"And why is that? How do you know my name?"

"Oh, plenty of people know it's you under the mask, Miss Lance. We just don't speak up about it. And I need your help."

"What is it?"

"It's not safe to say here, Miss Lance. Come to my facility."

"Not without my friend."

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring Mr Merlyn. Yes, I know about him, Miss Lance."

"Either you get Tommy and I or I leave without a second thought."

Waller sighed. "Very well, Miss Lance." She handed Laurel a business card. "The two of you need to come here in half an hour."

Laurel looked at the card. It contained a small address and a logo for the company ARGUS. "What's ARGUS?" Laurel looked up, and Waller was gone.

1988

Peter Quill sighed as he listened to Don McLean's "American Pie," waiting for him to get permission to see his mom. His mom, Meredith Quill, was on her death bed, having a brain tumor in the center of her brain. Peter was only eight.

"C'mon in, Peter," Grandpa Quill said. Peter stood up and went into Meredith's hospital room. "Take the headphones off," Grandpa Quill said as he took Peter's walkman and put it in the red backpack Peter toted around.

Peter went to Meredith's side. "Peter," Meredith said weakly, "my sweet boy, I love you." She pointed a shaky finger at a box wrapped in red wrapping paper from a Dollar General. "It's for you, Peter. I want you to have it when I'm gone."

"Here, I've you, slugger," Grandpa Quill said as he stuck the present in Peter's backpack.

"My little Star-Lord, I love you. When I'm gone, I want you to be happy. Grandpa will watch you until your father comes back."

"If he comes back," Grandpa Quill scoffed.

"I've never even met my dad, Mom," Peter said.

"I know, but he'll come back someday, Peter. And you can be his little Star-Lord too." Meredith paused and looked at her heart rate. "I'll be going soon, Star-Lord. Hold my hand, Peter."

When Peter didn't listen, his grandpa urged him to take his mother's hand. "Take my hand!" But it was too late. Meredith Quill flatlined and her death was marked at 9:29 p.m.

Peter was rushed out of the room as doctors did their job, and he told his grandpa he was going to the bathroom. But he didn't intend on going there.

Peter ran outside of the hospital into the empty park next to it, tears running down his face. How could I have lost Mom? Peter thought. He regretted hesitating to take her hand. He fell to his knees and sobbed unconsolably.

After not too long, a bright light fell above Peter's head. Peter looked up to see a space ship like the movies.

"So, you didn't call after you finished them off," Tommy said nervously as they drove back to their apartment.

"Ran into someone," Laurel said bitterly.

"Who?"

"Someone that wants to meet us here in thirty minutes," Laurel answered, handing the business card to Tommy.

"ARGUS? I've never heard of them. Have you?"

"Yeah, I have."

"If you wanna change, change in the car. It's pretty far away," Tommy added as he switched lanes to head to the ARGUS address.

After half an hour, Tommy parked the car next to a run over building. "This really it? Doesn't look like it's been used in twenty years."

"ARGUS doesn't exactly want to broadcast themselves to the world." The couple went up the porch and knocked on the door. When no one answered, Laurel pulled the door open. The door creaked, telling everything, dead and alive, that they had come. They walked past the parlor and into the dining room.

"Have a seat," Waller said.

"No, I think my comrade and I would prefer to stand," Laurel said defensively.

Waller shrugged. "Very well, Miss Lance."

Tommy eyed Laurel. "She knows who you are?"

"And I know who you are, Mr Merlyn."

"What do you want, Waller," Laurel said.

"First, I'd like to apologise for any inconveniences I've caused you. ARGUS no longer exists. I've joined SHIELD, a department with very different ideals." Waller said.

"I don't care about SHIELD's ideals. You lead ARGUS, ARGUS didn't have ideals, you did." Laurel argued.

"Despite the occasional disagreeance, I do what I'm told to do. I'm not the director of SHIELD, just one of the only ones willing to get things done." Waller sighed. "SHIELD has a different approach to vigilantes than I did. We need your help."

"Help with what?" Tommy asked.

Waller set a document on the kitchen table. Laurel picked it up and thumbed through it. "So now you wanna make a team?"

"Yes, Miss Lance. I'm assuming you know what Hydra is."

"Of course we know what Hydra is," Tommy said.

"SHIELD has neglected doing anything about the residual for seventy years. And that residual has grown to be several times larger than when Johann Schmidt first made Hydra."

"And what changed SHIELD's mind?" Tommy asked.

"Oh, SHIELD hasn't changed. Director Fury and I, along with our most trusted agents, have decided enough is enough. But we can't let the rest of SHIELD know. And that's where the Avengers Initiative comes in."

"So you want Laurel to fight Neo-Nazis with some vigilante buddies?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, Mr Merlyn."

"Who would I be working with?" Laurel asked.

"Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Atom, and Spartan," Waller listed.

"You want me to work with Spartan and Atom?" Laurel asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Miss Lance. Meet here at ten o'clock in the evening if you wish to join." Waller left, her part done.

While they drove back home, the duo discussed this offer. Laurel didn't trust Waller, but if she was right and Hydra was running around...

"Hydra was probably the biggest threat to the Allies until Captain America defeated Red Skull," Tommy insisted. "I don't think Waller is trustworthy, but we can't take chances if it's Hydra."

Laurel sighed. "Your right. I'll join these Avengers or whatever we're calling us."


End file.
